By Kamil Kaluski
In 2011, Jeep came out with the Wrangler Overland Concept. It was a white Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, lifted, on 35-inch mud terrain tires, which were wrapped around white steel 17-inch wheels. It had a whole bunch of AEV add-ons, too, and frankly it reminded me of Land Rover Defender 110 wagon. For me in was love on first sight and I promised myself that if I ever get a Wrangler, I would try to replicate this.
Late one night, while half asleep, on my quest to find a new family vehicle that was not a complete bore, I come upon a 2011 Jeep Wrangler Sahara Unlimited that was built to replicate that exact concept. It looked perfect to me and was even equipped exactly how I would want it. I was in love and I was going to buy it. What other “family” vehicle today can be equipped with steel wheels, steel bumpers, and a manual transmission? I cannot think of one.
I made it my objective to buy it. I was following the auction, studying, came up with t he exact amount I was willing to pay for this 40,000 mile vehicle when suddenly… the auction ended early.
What the hell?
Source: [sc:ebay itemid=”321184230906″ linktext=”eBay Motors” ]
I contacted the seller and he said that he was selling it to someone off eBay and if that sale was to fall through he would contact me. Ugh.
I guess the lesson learned here is that if you want a car on eBay badly, contact the seller directly as soon as possible. Anyone have any other tips for the future? There was also a nice 2010 4Runner Trail edition that disappeared on me. Double ugh.
Jeff Glucker
This is a newer vehicle so you wouldn't be likely to have the same issues I did, but I bought a vehicle from eBay once and that will be the last time. Was a Q45 with highish but reasonable miles, and "everything worked" "no issues" etc. – well everything worked, sure, after I put another two grand+ into it. The problem with auctions is it isn't practical to get an inspection done on the vehicle because firstly you only have a couple of days to make it happen and secondly there's no guarantee you'll win the auction. I'd cheerfully buy sight unseen again but not via eBay. The two cars I brought from Japan for example were pretty much faultless.
A couple of years ago, a 1998 Jeep ZJ 5.9L appeared on the local CL.
White, which is what I want, and while not uber-rare, this one had ARB bumpers, front and rear, a winch in the front one, but the OEM wheels with slightly-larger-than-stock BFG A/T's.
Oh, and a 3" lift.
Was clean, too. Had like 118K miles on it, so there was at least another 80K left in it.
$5K.
I waited…foolishly.
The charge for the first 1/4 mile is a bitch, but when you've gotta be a couple of blocks away, almost immediately, there isn't much which can substitute:
[youtube nhSAKYxrOPk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhSAKYxrOPk youtube]